Variation-register for automatic musical instruments.



No. 774,309. r PATENTED NOV. 8. 1904.

I M. CLARK. VARIATION REGISTER FOR AUTOMATIC MUSIGALINSTRUMENTS.

\ APPLICATION FILED FEB. a. 1904. N0 MODEL. 2SHEETS-SHEHT 1.

WM 1 y WWMJW No. 774,309. PATENTED NOV. 8, 1904.-

V M. CLARK. VARIATION REGISTER FOR AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 8. 1904.

N0 110mm. 2 SKEETSSHEET z.

I 27 .fiy,

' g I, H 39 UNITED STATES Patented November 8, 1904.

PATENT ()rrice.

MELVILLE CLARK, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 774,309, dated November 8, 1904.

Application filed February 8, 1904. Serial No. 192,525. (No model.) v

To all witmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, MELVILLE CLARK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Variation-Registers for Automatic Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The purpose of this invention is to provide in an automatic musical instrument or player which is operated by a controller of any sort a device separate from the controller for registering variations either of speed or intensity in the operation of the device and in the consequent character of the music produced and for indicating such variations as a guide in repeating or reproducing music, either for reproducing the same variations or departing from them.

It consists in the elements and features of construction which are set out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a portion of an automatic musical instrument, showing a customary form of controller consisting of a perforated sheet operated by take-up andrewinding rolls and having associated therewith elements constituting my said invention. Fig. 2 is a detail section at the line 2 2 on Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a partly-sectional front elevation of the righthand end portion of the rolls and bearings, showing a modified form of my invention, section being made axially through one of the rolls and its right-hand bearing. Fig. I is a detail section at the line 4: L on Fig. 3.

In the drawings I have represented in, a

conventional manner the supporting-cheeks 1 and 2, in which are mounted the bearings of the take-up and rewinding rolls 3 and 4:, which carry the controlling-sheet 5 of an automatic musical instrument or player. Mechanism (not shown) is to be understood as constituting a part of the instrument for the purpose of actuating the rolls for propelling the controlling-sheet over the tracker-range 6, whose ducts are controlled by the sheet 5. There is also to be understood the means for supplying airto the pneumatic'devices by which the playing devices are operated and the intensity of whose action is dependent upon the force atwhich the air-supplying mechanism is operated by theperformer. All of these devices familiar in such instruments may be of the customary character and none are illuslustrated. There is also to be understood as connected with or forming part of the mechanism for operating the rolls for propelling the controller-sheet means for varying the speed of such action, and of this mechanism I have only shown in the drawings the stop 7, which is moved to right and left for regulating the speed. The drawings show also an index-finger 8, which is to be understood as connected with the means (not shown) for operating the air-supplying devices in such manner that its movement to right and left is caused by and indicates the variation in the intensity of the action of the playing devices. I do not limit myself to the particular character of playing or air-supplying devices or mode of connection of the stop therewith, and it is well understood how an indicator, such as 8, may be operated in the manner stated by connection with air-supplying and playing devices of familiar sorts.

The characteristic elements of my invention are found in connection with the take-up and rewinding rolls 3 and I. In one form of my invention these rolls are constructed with extensions 9 and 10, respectively, at the right hand beyond the head or flange 11, which bounds at the right hand the portion of the roll on which the controlling-sheet 5 is wound, the extreme right-hand ends of the rolls being furnished with the usual form of heads or flanges 12and 13 for engagement with the shafts or chucks for rotating the rolls, respectively, to which motion is usually communicated from mechanism located at the right hand. On the portions 9 and 10 of the two rolls there is Wound a strip of paper 15, which is unwound from one roll and wound onto the other in the same manner, as the controlling-sheet 5. The index-finger 8 and an index-finger 7 connected with the stop 7, are each provided with reversible tracers 16 and 17, respectively, one] end of each tracer being adapted to carry a pencil-point and the other being a blind tracing-terminal, These tracers are adapted to be set so that the pencil-points bear upon the paper strip 15, preferably at the point at which it passes over the edge of the tracker-range, which is extended to the same distance as the rolls, so as to support the strip 15, as well as the controllingsheet. When thus set, at the commencement of the playing ofa piece of music that is, at the commencement of the winding of the con trolling-sheet onto the take-up rollthe lines which the pencil-tracers will produce upon the strip 15 will correspond to and indicate, respectively, the variations in speed and intensity of the playing, and will thus record the performance of the particular person whose musical judgment determines the variations of speed and expression. Such a record having been made at one playing of the piece another performer may reproduce the music with the same variations of expression and speed by manipulating the stops and operating the pedals or other means which supply the force to the playing devices, so as to cause the tracers, reversed so as to present their blind points to the paper 15, to follow the course of the lines traced in the first performance.

It is desirable that an instrument constructed to carry the indicating-strip spools at the ends of the controlling-sheet rolls should be capable also of carrying the ordinary controller-sheet rolls constructed for use in instruments not having the extra space necessary for the indicating-strip spools, and it is desirable also that controlling-sheet rolls constructed for use on the instrument which is adapted for the spools in addition should be also capable of use on ordinary instruments not having the extra space-that is, the controller-sheet rolls should be substantially the same in construction forboth sorts of instruments, so as to be used interchangeably upon either sort.

It will be manifest also that the perforated controllingsheet and the comparatively narrow variation-indicating strip may be liable to stretch to different degrees in use and may tend in different degrees to uncoil on the rewind roll when not in use and that even though made originally precisely of the same length and of the same paper it will require considerable skill to insure that both are wound with the same degree of tightness that is, so as to make exactly the same number of laps about their respective rolls when the ends are even at the commencement of the playing-and thatin case the controlling-sheet should have recoiled more than the strip, so as to be more slack on its roll, the winding of both from rigidly-connected rewind-rolls upon synchronously-operating take-up rolls would cause the strip to exert all the pull for unwinding from the rewind-rolls and that the perforated controlling-sheet would in that event lie slack over the tracker-range, which would defeat the action of the instrument. On the other hand, if the strip should have uncoiled or become slack more than the controlling-sheet, while the slackness of the strip which would result back of the tracker-range in the course of the playing might not cause serious inconvenience or interfere with the action, there would result em barrassment from the fact that the entire amount of the strip would be unwound before the controllingsheet would be all unwound, and in the further operation for unwinding the remainder of the controlling-sheet to complete the playing of the piece the strip would be wound backward upon the rewind-roll as many turns as that roll might be compelled to make in completing the unwinding of the controlling-sheet or until by such rewinding backward of the strip the slack of the latter would be all taken up, which would result some time before the controlling-sheet would be all unwound, because the strip would during that time be wound upon both rolls. The strip would thus become tight and bring the action to a halt or be torn in two before the controlling-sheet was all unwound and before the piece was completed,unless it should happen thatthe controlling-sheet had a considerable amount of reserve at the end beyond the perforated portion. To prevent this sort of embarrassment, it is desirable that the connection between the corresponding rolls or spools of the controllingsheet and the variation-indicatingstrip should be such as to prevent the strip from controlling the movement or tension of the controllersheet, either in playing or rewinding.

Both the results above indicated. as desirable are accomplished by the construction shown in Figs. 3 and 4, which is the most preferred form of my invention. In this form the shafts or spindles 20 and 20 for rotating the take-up and rewind rolls, respectively, are extended through the right-hand cheek far enough to engage the right-hand heads of take-u p and rewind spools of ordinary length, thus leaving room for the spools for the indicating-strip at the right hand of the controller-sheet rolls. The two spindles are similarly constructed in this respect and provided with similar devices for carrying the spools, the construction being illustrated with respect to one of them only, which will now be described. Upon each of the spindles 20 and 20, immediately adjacent to the inner or lefthand face of the cheek in which it is journaled, there is mounted a clutch comprising a collar 21, loose on the spindle and having lodged in one face (as illustrated the face toward the cheek) dogs 22 22, adapted to clutch the spindle, so as to cause the collar to be driven by the rotation of the latter in direction to permit the spindle to rotate in the other direction without driving the collar, springs 23 23 being provided, holding the dogs in con tact w1th the spindle ready for gripping in the proper direction. A cover-plate 24 may be applied to the collar to retain the dogs and springs. At the opposite side of the collar it has a square boss or hub 25, adapted for engaging a square socket, which is formed in the right-hand head of the spool 26, said spool being loose on the spindle and having no driv- .1ng engagement except as its square socket is engaged with the square hub 25 of the clutchcollar. On each spindle the clutch is constructed for driving in the direction of rotation of thespindle by which the strip is Wound on the spool and the controlling-sheet on its roll, the clutches being thus oppositely arranged on the two spindles. The spools carrying the indicating-strips for corresponding controller-sheet rolls have a peripheral mark on the left-hand head corresponding to a similar mark on the right-hand head of the controller-sheet roll, and when these marks are set in line the indicating-strip and the controller-sheet are properly related to each other or register so that the variation-indicating marks on the strip correspond as tothe points of variation with the points of the perforated controlling-sheet, which should be passing the tracker-range at the time the variationmarks are passing the index-finger. The spools can always be set to thus register with the roll, because it can be turned in one direction without restriction on the spindle. The take-up spool has means for connecting the free end of the indicating-strip similar to that which is customarily employed for connecting the free end of the controlling-sheet with its take-up roll.

It will be seen that in the use of an instrument provided with the extended spindle described and adapted to receive the variationindicating spools the omission of the spools, in no respect impairs the use of the instrument with a controlling-sheet of ordinary.

length, and also that the controllingsheet rolls, being identical in form as to length and provision for engaging the driving-spindle, are thus adapted for use in an ordinary instrument. They are interchangeable therewith.

For properly checking the indicating-strip to cause it to be wound on the take-up spool as closely as the controlling-sheet is wound on its roll I provide a friction-brake to operate upon the rewind-spool. This brake comprises a spring 27 mounted on a cheek and having pivoted to ita shoe 28, which bears against the side of the cover-plate 2 1, which is preferably made of such diameter as to extend flangewise beyond the periphery of the clutch-collar to receive the pressure of the shoe laterally. The end of the shoe which thus bears upon the plate 2 L for checking the spool is eccentric to the pivot of the shoe, and the shoe is stopped in respect to its pivotal motion at a position at which the most ecand a light spring 29 is provided, tending to hold it in this position with respect to its pivot.

The frictional engagement of the plate 24 against the shoe when the rewind-spool is winding the paper from the take-up spool is in the direction to fold the shoe back against the resistance of the spring 29, and it can fold in this direction so far that the pressure of the spring 27 is practically taken off upon the plate, said spring coming into its normal position when the shoe is thus folded against the spring 29 and the tension of the latter spring is all that causes the shoe to press on the plate. When the spool is running in the opposite direction, however, the frictional engagement of the plate swings the shoe back to the stop and crowds the spring 27 out, causing its full tension due to such flexure to operate for producing pressure of the shoe upon the plate 24: to check the spool.

I claim 1. In an automatic musical instrument, in combination with acontrolling-sheet and rolls for propelling the same; a separate and supplemental strip and rolls for propelling it mounted on conaxially with the controllingsheet rolls, and slip and grip clutches connecting the conaxial rolls respectively, adapted to communicate driving motion to the supplemental rolls in the direction in which the controlling-sheet rolls rotate when Winding the latter about them respectively.

2. In an automatic musical instrument, in combination with a controlling-sheet and rolls for propelling the same; spindles by which the rolls respectively are rotated, adapted at their ends for disengageable connection with their respective rolls; slip and grip clutches on the spindles, remote from the ends of the latter which are engaged with the controller-sheet rolls; a separate and supplemental strip and supplemental rolls removably mounted, loose on the spindles respectively, for propelling said supplemental strip, disengageably engaged with the clutches.

8. In an automatic musical instrument, in combination with a controlling-sheet and rolls for propelling the same; a separate and supplemental strip and separate and supplemental in the opposite direction, and a pressure-brake operating on the outer .element of the clutch pertaining to the rewind-rolls.

4. In an automatic musical instrument, in combination with a controlling-sheet and rolls for propelling the same; an independent variation-indicating strip and means for propelling it synchronously with the controllingsheet; an indicator adapted to move transcentric point of the shoe bears upon the plate, r versely with respect to the travel of the varia- 3 tion-indicating strip in accordance with the variations in the playing, and a tracer carried by such indicator in proximity to the strip.

In an automatic musical instrument, in combination with a controlling-sheet and rolls for propelling the same; an independentvariation-indicating strip and means for propelling' it synchronously with the controllingsheet; an indicator adapted to move transversely with respect to the travel of the variation-indicating strip in accordance with the variations in the playing, and a marker car ried by such indicator in contact with the strip for recording thereon such variations.

6. In an automatic musical instrument, in combination with a controlling-sheet and rolls for propelling the same, a strip separate from the controlling-sheet and rolls for propelling it longitudinally synchronously with such sheet; an indicator adapted to move transversely with respect to the travel of the strip in accordance with the variations in the playing, and a marker carried by such indicator in contact with the strip.

7. In an automatic musical instrument, in combination with a controlling-sheet and rolls for propelling the same, a strip separate from the controlling-sheet and rolls for propelling it longitudinally synchronously with such' sheet; an indicator adapted to move transversely with respect to the travel of the strip in accordance with the variations in the playing, and a tracer carried by the indicator in proximity to the strip.

8. In an automatic musical instrument, in combination with a controlling-sheet and rolls for propelling the same; a variation-indicating strip separate from the controlling-sheet; rolls for propelling it synchronously with the controlling sheet; an indicator adapted to move transversely with respect to the travel of the strip in accordance with the variations of the playing; a tracer carried by the indicator, the strip-carrying rolls being conaXial with the controlling-sheet rolls respectively, and operatively connected therewith for rotation.

9. in an automatic musical instrument, in combination with a controlling-sheet and rolls for propelling the same; a strip separate from the controlling-sheet and rolls for propelling such strip longitudinally synchronously with the controlling-sheet; an indicator adapted to move transversely with respect to the travel of the strip in accordance with the variations in the playing, and a device carried by the indicator having one end adapted to operate as a marker and the other devoid of means for marking, and adapted to be reversed to bring either end at will into position to vibrate over the indicating-stri 10. In an automatic musical instrument, in combination with a controlling-sheet and rolls "for propelling it; a separate and supplemental strip and rollsmounted conaxially with the controlling-sheet rolls for propelling such strip; slip and grip clutches connecting the conaxial rolls respectively, adapted to communicate driving motion to the supplemental rolls in the direction in which the controllingsheet rolls rotate when winding said sheet about them respectively and to slip in the other direction,and a friction-brake operating on the clutch of the rewind supplemental roll when said clutch is rotated in the direction for unwinding the strip from said supplemental roll.

11. In an automatic musical instrument, in combination with a controlling-sheet and rolls for propelling it, a separate and supplemental strip and rolls mounted conaxially with the controlling-sheet rolls for propelling such strip; slip and grip clutches connecting the conaxial rolls respectively, adapted to communicate driving motion to the supplemental rolls in the direction in which the controllingsheet rolls rotate when winding such sheet about them respectively, and to slip in the other direction, and a friction-brake operating on the clutch of the rewind supplemental roll comprising a spring-arm and a shoe pivoted thereto having its surface which bears for friction against the clutch eccentric with respect to its pivot.

In testimony whereof I. have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two witnesses, at Chicago, Illinois, this 3d day of February, 190 i.

MELVILLE CLARK. 1n presence oi FRED. (i. FISCHER, J. S. ABBOTT. 

